


Mob Meets the Pines

by DiagonalCrosswalks



Category: Gravity Falls, モブサイコ100 | Mob Psycho 100
Genre: Crossover, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24457078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DiagonalCrosswalks/pseuds/DiagonalCrosswalks
Summary: Have you ever wondered what would happen if the Pines family somehow crossed over into Shigeo Kageyama's world? What sort of connections will be made? What shenanigans will they get into?And... is Bill truly gone?(This story takes place after the end of the Mob Pyscho 100 manga (including the Reigen manga), and the end of the Gravity Falls tv show.)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 65





	1. How did we get here?

“Shishou…”

“Yes, Mob? You’re thinking what I’m thinking too, right?” Reigen Arataka puffed out his chest, grinning down at his young acolyte. “This is totally--”

“The real thing,” Mob completed, his voice deadpan as usual.

The two japanese characters stood alone in a shadowy forest, in front of what appeared to be a circular abyss. Wooden signs, stuck into the ground nearby or hanging from tree branches, proclaimed messages such as “BOTTOMLESS PIT” or “PORTAL TO HELL”. A gentle breeze lifted up a few leaves off of the forest floor, dropping them into the deep darkness, never to be seen again.

Reigen’s expression froze. “Well,  I was going to say ‘utter baloney’. You really think this is the real deal?” The self proclaimed psychic checked his phone, reading over their client’s request once more.

The request was a panicked email: _“There’s a spooky hole in the forest near my home! Some say it’s haunted by those who have fallen in! Others say the victims went straight to tartarus!! PLEASE, I BEG YOU, FIND OUT THE TRUTH OF THAT AWFUL PLACE!” ___

____

Reigen closed his flip phone. “So, what’s the verdict?”

____

Mob crouched down to the ground, a little closer to the edge of the hole than Reigen was comfortable with. The strawberry blonde man also crouched down, just to keep a hand close in case he needed to keep the kid from falling in. Sure, the kid might have been psychic, but safety was  always  important.

____

“I sense… strange things down there,” Mob said quietly.

____

Reigen shivered. “What… what sort of things?”

____

Mob opened his mouth to respond, but stopped as the two both heard a noise. Coming from the hole itself.

____

Reigen jumped up, grabbing Mob by the collar and pulling him back. “MOB! What’s that sound?!”

____

Even Mob looked unnerved. “I… I don’t know! It sounds like a person!”

____

Reigen looked toward the hole with a horrified expression. “Someone must be stuck down there! Mob, use your telekinesis to--”

____

Reigen’s theory was disproven quickly as the sound grew  closer , as if something was coming  out  of the hole. It almost sounded like a “Weeeeeeee!!” But what kind of creature would make that sort of noise--?!

____

In a flash, a small girl flew into the air, as if the abyss had spat her out. Mob instinctively grabbed her with his telekinesis, leaving her floating in the air above the pit.

____

“ WOW! ” the girl exclaimed. “ I wasn’t expecting this!! I’m going to be the world record hide and seek champion!!”

____

Mob and Reigen shared a look.

____

“Do… do you understand her, Mob?” Reigen asked. “I wasn’t all that good in my English studies.”

____

“Me neither,” Mob lamented. “If only we hadn’t left Serizawa at the office. His English is really good.”

____

“ Are you guys speaking in ANIME LANGUAGE?! ” the girl continued to blabber. “ Wow, Soos would freak! He loves that stuff, and I think he even knows Japanese too! Also, uh, hey, quick question-- how am I floating right now? Like, don’t get me wrong, it’s cool! But am I gonna fall back down any time soon? ”

____

“Ah, what the heck,” came a disembodied voice. “You two are useless. One of the perks of being a ghost is you get to understand every language.” Dimple, the small green blob of a ghost, appeared beside Mob. He snapped his fingers, and a brief green light surrounded the strange girl. “There, you should be able to understand her, and vice versa.”

____

“Thank you, Dimple,” Mob said appreciatively. He used his telekinesis to bring the girl away from the pit and set her gently on the ground a safe distance away. “Are you alright? Are you hurt at all?”

____

“WOAH, I can totally understand you now!” The caucasian girl tried to spit her long brown hair out of her mouth, some strands having got caught in her braces. “That was the ride of a lifetime! Always is. Wasn’t my first time jumping into the bottomless pit, you know. But I’ve never ended up in a different dimension after jumping in…! I guess great uncle Ford was right about that part after all.”

____

“Not your… first time?” Reigen repeated in disbelief. “Sorry, but  who are you? ”

____

The young girl jumped to her feet, putting her hands on her hips. “I’m Mabel Pines, renowned artist and record-holder for the most amount of cats pet at one time! Nice to meet you!”

____

“Er, nice to meet you too,” Reigen responded hesitantly. “I’m Reigen Arataka, world renowned psychic. You may have heard of me on the internet?”

____

“Nope!” the girl said bluntly. 

____

“I’m Shigeo Kageyama,” Mob said politely. “You look like you’re from America or somewhere else far away. How did you end up falling into the bottomless pit?”

____

Mabel laughed. “I jumped in, off course!”

____

There was a stunned silence.

____

Reigen put on his most sympathetic face, his voice growing soft and serious. “Listen, Mabel, was it?” He took in a deep breath. “I know the world can be a tough place, but rather than making rash decisions, you can always talk to a counselor or caring parent, you know?”

____

Mabel gave the man a funny look. “What? I’m not sad or anything! Why would you think that? I jumped in for fun! See, I’m playing hide and seek with my family, and what better place to hide than the infinite loop that is the  bottomless pit! ” She paused. “Though… I guess it wasn’t such an infinite loop this time. Ahah. Maybe I should jump back in now and go home…” She nervously twirled a strand of her long hair.

____

“Shishou,” Mob said, turning to his master. “I think the pit might actually be a portal to other places.”

____

“That may be so,” Reigen agreed, a hand on his chin in contemplation, “but I don’t feel right about letting her jump back in.” He cautiously walked closer to the hole, trying to peer down into it. “I’d trust an airplane much more than a magic portal to get her home.” He cupped his hands to his mouth, and called down into the hole, just for fun. “Helloooooooo!”

____

He wasn’t expecting an answer. Why would he?

____

So when an unintelligible answer came echoing back, he nearly tumbled in. Luckily Mob was there to pull him back with a quick burst of telekinesis.

____

“I heard someone else down there!” Reigen spluttered, stumbling backward. “What if it’s someone dangerous this time?!”

____

***

____

“Wow, your sister really is good at this game, dude!” Soos held out his arms to catch Dipper, who had tried climbing a tree looking for Mabel. 

____

Dipper jumped down, Soos’ arms making for a soft landing. “Thanks Soos. Yeah, my parents almost called the police to report her missing one time. She’s really competitive when it comes to hide and seek.” Soos set him down, and the young boy sighed, looking around. They’d looked in every nook and cranny in the Mystery Shack. They’d checked inside of Stan’s car. They’d sent Wendy to ask around town. Now, the Pines family was checking the extensive expanse of forest around the Mystery Shack. 

____

At this point, everyone even carried signal flares. Whoever found Mabel would set one off to let the others know. Dipper and Soos searched together, as Dipper’s great uncles didn’t want him exploring the woods alone. Even though he was 13, almost 14.

____

“Remember that secret hideout we found inside that tree one time, dude?” Soos brought up as the two continued to march around. “I bet she’s totally in there, eating canned beans to her heart’s content.”

____

“Maybe,” Dipper grumbled. Why hadn’t Mabel agreed to the “Stay in the Mystery Shack” rule? She’d been all “that’s no fun, you’re such a party pooper”. Well, you know what wasn’t fun? Tromping around the forest on a hot summer’s day feeling hopeless and--

____

SCREEE!

____

A signal flare whistled into the sky. Through the trees, Dipper and Soos could clearly see where it was coming from. They excitedly ran in that direction, with Dipper almost outrunning Soos. Grunkle Stan soon came into view.

____

“Grunkle Stan!” Dipper gasped, out of breath. “You found her?!”

____

“Well,” the old man said with a grimace, “yes and no.”

____

Dipper and Soos noticed where they were. Stan stood near the bottomless pit. In his hands he held a note scribbled in crayon.

____

Ford burst from the bushes nearby. “At last! You found her?” he demanded. He didn’t even look out of breath-- how was he so in shape?

____

Stan showed all of them the note. In 8 different colours, it said:

____

_“YOU FOUND ME! Well, almost! You’ll find me once I come flying back out of the pit, hahaha! Then let’s get icecream, pleeeeeeeeeeease grunkle Stan??” ___

______ _ _

Ford’s eyes narrowed in concern. “Dipper, start keeping time. If she doesn’t come back in 24 hours--”

______ _ _

“I’m gonna find her first!” Soos announced.

______ _ _

The others turned their heads in time to see Soos diving fearlessly into the bottomless pit. 

______ _ _

Ford sighed. “I suppose we’ll have to dive into the unknown to search for Mabel. Again. I understand now that this happens often.”

______ _ _

“Yeah, pretty much,” Dipper stated flatly.

______ _ _

***

______ _ _

“He doesn’t look dangerous,” Mob said, studying the rotund newcomer.

______ _ _

This new person, who had introduced himself as Soos (in Japanese no less), was chatting excitedly with Mabel. He was rambling on and on about “I can’t believe you found the portal to the anime world, dude” or something or other. It was a bit hard to follow, even with Dimple granting translation powers to them all.

______ _ _

“Now there’s a guy who’ll probably never get a girlfriend,” Dimple commented rudely.

______ _ _

“Dimple!” Mob scolded.

______ _ _

“What, they can’t hear me! I’m in invisible mode.” The apathetic spirit drifted over to the hole. It was his turn to stare into the abyss it seemed. He groaned loudly, grimacing. “Great. Just great. We’ve got even  more  newcomers on their way up from who-knows-where.”

______ _ _

“More?!” Reigen began to wave his hands around in the way he often did. “I can’t pay for  that  many plane tickets to America! Mob, do you know if that teleporting esper is still around by chance--?”

______ _ _

Three more people flew out of the abyss. The smallest was hollering, the one in a red beanie was whooping, and the third remained stoically silent. As they landed, the stoic one adjusted his glasses and stood to attention, alert. Dimple immediately zapped them with his translation power as well, while rolling his eyes.

______ _ _

“And who the heck are  you? ” Reigen asked, exasperated. At this point the blonde man was hunched over, sweat dripping down his temples. His tired expression said “I’m really not surprised at this point but I’d still like an explanation”.

______ _ _

The stoic man nodded curtly to Reigen and Mob. “Stanford Pines, interdimensional traveler. I’m here to return my family to our proper dimension, if you’ll excuse us.” The man, apparently Stanford, ran over to Mabel and laid a protective hand on her shoulder. “Thank goodness you’re alright, Mabel!”

______ _ _

“Hey, pumpkin!” the other man said, running over to the girl as well. He didn’t bother to introduce himself, completely ignoring Mob and Reigen. “And Soos. I swear Soos, you’re as much as a handful as the kids sometimes.”

______ _ _

Soos just chuckled. “Sorry Mr. Pines, but growing up is, like, no fun, y’know?”

______ _ _

The small boy who had arrived was staring at Mob and Reigen with wide eyes. “H-hey,” he said timidly, giving them a small wave. “I-I’m Dipper.” His voice cracked slightly, and he cleared his throat to try again. “I’m Dipper Pines. Nice to meet you, and sorry to, uhm, barge into your dimension like this…”

______ _ _

“You’re fine,” Mob responded, expression blank. 

______ _ _

“Alright, Pines family, back into the spooky scary pit we go,” Stanford announced, gently pushing everyone towards the hole. “We should arrive right back home-- if we’re not too late.”

______ _ _

“What do you mean, too late?” Dipper asked, a paranoid edge to his voice.

______ _ _

“Why, if we don’t hurry, the dimensional door to our universe might close any second. Hurry now and jump into the abyss, chop chop!”

______ _ _

And just like that, the five were gone, tumbling back down into the bottomless pit.

______ _ _

The forest became quiet and peaceful once more.

______ _ _

“WELL!” Reigen blurted, turning to leave. “Glad that’s over with. Now, how about some soba to forget we ever saw this, huh, Mob?”

______ _ _

Mob remained where he stood. “I want to make sure they get back home safely.”

______ _ _

Reigen cringed. “Yeah, yeah, fair enough. I say we give it no more than 30 minutes and call it a day, alright?”

______ _ _

“Okay, shishou.”

______ _ _

They waited. 

______ _ _

Dimple began whistling, to which Reigen began trying to swat at him in annoyance. Mob smiled slightly, knowing that as much as the two argued, they got along when it really counted. 

______ _ _

_Other dimensions… I wonder if it’s really true. Where else would those strange people have come from? I wonder if they have psychic powers in their world too. Or spirits and demons. What kind of stories do they have? What are their lives like? ___

_____ _

_____ _

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______ _ _

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_____ _

_____ _

Mob checked the time on his phone. It had almost been 30 minutes.

_____ _

_____ _

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______ _ _

_____ _

_____ _

_____ _

_I’ll probably never know. ___

_____ _

_______ _ _ _

_____ _

______ _ _

_____ _

_______ _ _ _

_____ _

“Okay, time to head back,” Reigen announced eagerly. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Let’s make it to the bus stop as soon as we can and--”

_____ _

_______ _ _ _

_____ _

______ _ _

_____ _

_______ _ _ _

_____ _

Noises echoed up from the pit.

_____ _

_______ _ _ _

_____ _

______ _ _

_____ _

_______ _ _ _

_____ _

“Seriously?! Not again!” Reigen gaped at the pit in disbelief as all five characters came flying back out.

_____ _

_______ _ _ _

_____ _

______ _ _

_____ _

_______ _ _ _

_____ _

The man who had introduced himself as Stanford was the first to get to his feet. He winced, smiling at Reigen and Mob apologetically. 

_____ _

_______ _ _ _

_____ _

______ _ _

_____ _

_______ _ _ _

_____ _

“Well,” he said, “it would appear we’re stuck here for a while.”

_____ _

_______ _ _ _

_____ _

______ _ _

_____ _

_______ _ _ _

_____ _


	2. Where will we stay?

"Great uncle Ford," Dipper whispered. "Do you have any idea what dimension we're in?"

Whispering was a bit pointless. Everyone on the public bus was already staring at them.

Reigen was fidgeting uncomfortably in his seat as Mabel bombarded him with personal questions-- "Is your hair naturally that colour? Are you in love with anyone? What's your favorite candy? Are you a dog, cat, or pig person?" As Mabel distracted the poor man, Stan was trying to pickpocket him. Mob didn't notice what was happening, as Soos insisted on practicing his Japanese with the kid.

"Ah, yes," Ford said confidently. "It appears we are in a dimension where the story was so dearly loved by the author he persevered to create this world despite his unconventional art style."

Dipper blinked. "You can tell all that?"

Ford smiled. "It's merely an educated guess."

After leaving the forest, the group had waited at the nearest bus stop. The bus they were on now was currently driving them out of the forested country and towards a place called Seasoning City. Though the other passengers stared at the rag-tag group, none of them said anything about the obvious foreigners.

The bus finally stopped in the middle of the city, and Reigen jumped up from his seat. "Come along everyone, this is our stop. Just a few blocks and we'll be at the Spirits and Such Consultation office, where I work. My other employees will be waiting for us there."

They followed the man off of the bus, out onto the sidewalk of the calm city. It was nearly noon, the sky was partly cloudy, and a few kids walked around with friends, enjoying their summer break. 

As they walked behind Reigen and Mob, Dipper noticed Stan secretly peeking into the wallet he had stolen. _How is he going to exchange those yen for American dollars?_ Dipper wondered.

"Just up these stairs here," Reigen directed, oblivious to his missing wallet. "Serizawa should have some tea ready, and we can discuss... er... how to get you all back home."

***

Stan studied the Spirits and Such Consultation Office with a trained eye. It didn't take much deduction to read the familiar con-artist tones radiating from the posters and flyers decorating the walls. So, this Reigen fellow ran his own business too, eh? "Spirits and Such" didn't sound too far off from his own Mystery Shack.

The Pines family was seated on the office's couches as Ford tried to explain the situation to these other-dimension-ers. "...So, you see, your dimension is one of many," his nerdy brother was explaining. Ford was used to being thrown into new places at this point; Stan was all up for adventure, but _entirely different dimensions_ were less his thing. His own Earth was just enough for him.

A nervous man in a suit approached, his hands shaking as he tried to offer Stan a cup of tea.

"No thanks," Stan declined, not entirely trusting of these people yet.

"O-okay, sorry sir," the awkwardly tall man apologized, scurrying away. He was one of the employees here, and had been introduced as Serizawa.

"Different dimensions, you say?" a girl piped up, leaning against one of the couches in the office. She looked about Wendy's age, and had introduced herself as Tome. "So you're claiming you all are aliens, then?"

Ford opened his mouth to say no, but seemed to reconsider. "Well, depends on your definition of alien, I suppose--"

"I'll have you know, I've met _real_ aliens," Tome interrupted. "And they looked _nothing_ like you."

Dipper's eyes widened, gleaming in the light-- maybe that was just one of the weird effects of being in this dimension. "You've met aliens?" he asked in amazement. "Are you serious?!"

"Of course I'm serious! Ask any of these guys!" Tome bragged, gesturing a thumb towards Reigen and Mob. "Except Serizawa. He missed out."

Dipper immediately began to launch questions at the girl. "How did you--? Did they land here? Were you able to speak to them? What did they look like?!--"

Ford held up a six fingered hand, stopping his grand nephew. "I understand your curiosity Dipper, I do, but let's not get off track." He turned back to Reigen, who was munching away on some sphere-shaped food covered in sauce. It smelled vaguely good, whatever it was. "Mr. Reigen, do you see why an airplane simply wouldn't do the trick? Our only options are as follows: repeatedly jump into the bottomless pit and pray for a miracle, or try to find a way to open our own portal."

Reigen nodded as he chewed. "I see," he said around a mouthful. "I have a question."

"Yes?"

Reigen pointed to Mabel. The girl was humming to herself as she worked on her latest knitting project, completely tuning out the world. 

"Does she take requests?" Reigen asked seriously. "I might be interested in a sweater."

Ford just stared, his mouth hanging open. "I... Well, you could ask her. Were you even listening to me?"

The blonde man licked the sauce off of his lips. "Yes, yes, of course. Unfortunately, if you're going to be trying to open magical portals, I'm not going to be of much use." He took a sip of his own cup of tea. "Mob? What say you? Could you and your esper friends open these guys up a portal home?"

Mob, the kid with the bowl cut, had a concerned look on his face. "I'm not so sure, shishou. I could talk to Hanazawa about it. Would you know anything about that, Serizawa?"

The gangly man shook his head. He seemed just fine talking to his coworkers, but incredibly nervous around new people. "I don't know anything about portals, sorry."

Soos raised a hand.

"...Yes?" Reigen asked.

"So, are we going to be stuck here for a while? Because then I have another question," Soos said.

Reigen nodded. "You're going to ask where you can stay, right? Well, I'll say this now, it won't be _my_ apartment--"

"Actually," Soos corrected, "I was going to ask if you have any gun-swords in this dimension."

"Gun-swords?" Tome echoed, her stare cold.

"Gun-swords!" Soos' grin melted as he saw the confused looks on everyone else's faces. "Oh. I guess this isn't _that_ kind of anime, then."

***

"I just got off the phone with Hanazawa," Mob said, coming back into the room. He had stepped out of the office to make a phone call. "He says he's okay with lending his place to the Pines family. He'll stay over at my house until we can send them home."

"Ah, great! What a generous fellow," Reigen said, the relief obvious in his voice. "Now, if you all could leave my office, I might have a customer coming in at any moment, so..."

"I'll take you to Hanazawa's," Mob offered, opening the door politely.

Stan and the rest of the Pines got up. As Stan stretched his arms, he glanced at Reigen one more time. _Yeah, I definitely know a fellow "business man" when I see one,_ he thought. _I wonder how lucrative the "exorcism" business is..._


	3. Who is THIS handsome stranger?

"So, your job is excorsizing ghosts?" Dipper asked, smiling at Mob in admiration. "That's my dream job!"

"Oh, do you have psychic powers too?" Mob asked.

"Well, no... but I have cameras!"

The Pines family (Soos included) followed Mob through the streets of Seasoning City, Japan. It was cool being in another country (never mind a whole other dimension), though Dipper knew he and his family stood out, which made him feel even more out of place.

"I've been meaning to ask," Ford spoke up. "How come we all can understand each other's languages?"

"Ah, that would be thanks to Dimple," Mob answered. "He used his powers to translate everything we say."

"Who's... Dimple?"

As Ford asked, a small green spirit appeared right in front of their eyes, waving a hand. "'Sup," he said.

Dipper nearly stumbled in surprise. "You have a ghost friend?! That's so cool! I take it he's not evil, then? That would put him in category 1 or 2..."

"Hey!" Dimple protested. "Just because I'm not 'evil' doesn't mean I'm wimpy. I'm stronger than you can imagine, kid."

"Awwww, you have a pet ghost! That's so cute!" Mabel said from atop Stan's shoulders. Her poor Grunkle looked a bit tired from carrying her, but Dipper knew he wouldn't admit it.

"I'M NOT ANYBODY'S PET!" Dimple snapped.

"Dimple is a friend," Mob explained. "I've excorsized a lot of evil spirits before, but Dimple has really proven himself to be reliable."

"I-I almost excorsized a ghost one time!" Dipper tried to brag. "See, there's this rich family where I come from called the Northwests and--"

"We're here," Mob said, stopping and standing in front of a large apartment building. Nearby was an intimidatingly tall stairwell. "We just need to go up these stairs."

_Maybe I should save that story for another day,_ Dipper thought, bracing himself for the climb up the stairs.

"Hey, sweetheart," Grunkle Stan grunted, "I'm gonna have to put you down now..."

"I believe in you, Grunkle Stan!" Mabel insisted, remaining on her shoulder throne. "Climb. Those. Stairs! Climb. Those. Stairs!"

"You're gonna get me killed, you little gremlin!" Stan complained, slouching.

Ford stepped toward his brother. "Mabel, Stan looks pretty worn out, perhaps I could carry you now--"

"UP THE STAIRS WE GO!" Stan suddenly shouted, straightening his back and charging onward up the stairway.

***

Mabel grinned triumphantly as Stan dropped to his knees in exhaustion on the landing. The rest of the group had already made it up, but it seemed they had waited for the two of them before knocking on the door. 

"HA," Stan panted. "I DID IT. Take that, Ford. Aaaaaagh."

"Great job, Grunkle Stan!" Mabel hopped off of his shoulders, patting him on the back. "I knew you could do it!"

Mob didn't comment on the scene, and instead knocked on the apartment door in front of him. 

As the door swung open, revealing who stood in the doorway, Mabel felt the world around her go into slow motion.

Blonde hair... blue eyes... a cool smile...

"Hey, Kageyama-kun! Ah, this must be the Pines family." Smiling widely, the boy politely bowed to them. "I'm Teruki Hanazawa. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Teruki," Ford began. "Thank you for letting us--"

"I'M MABEL! MABEL PINES!" Mabel gushed, grabbing the boy's hand and shaking it vigorously. "Teruki is a cool name!! It sounds like turkey! I like your pink sweater! Or is it purple? It's the baby of purple and pink and I _like_ it!! Did you know I--" 

Dipper grabbed her arm and yanked her back. "Mabel, leave him alone! He's being nice enough to let us stay at his place, so be polite!"

Teru just laughed. "She's okay. It's nice to meet you, Mabel Pines! I like the flamingo on your sweater."

"Thank you! I made this myself!" she boasted.

"Cool!" He turned to the rest of the Pines. "Feel free to come on in, I'll show you around. Kageyama says you're from a different dimension, then?"

They all walked in, with Ford striking up a conversation with Teru about their situation. Mabel trailed in after them, eyes glued to the cool and confident kid.

"Psst," Soos whispered to her. "I just thought I should let you know, dude-- you've got blushies on your face."

Mabel instinctively wiped her cheeks with her sweater sleeves, before realizing how silly that was. Well, silly was her middle name anyway!

***

"A portal to another dimension, hmm?" Teru mused. "I've never tried anything like that before. But if anyone can do it, it would definitely be Kageyama."

"H-Huh?" Mob said, startled. "I know you're confident in me, Hanazawa-kun, but I don't think even my powers could accomplish something like that..."

Teru, Mob, Ford, Stan, and Soos sat around a table on the floor talking. In the background, Dipper and Mabel chased each other around the apartment, Mable trying to use her ball of yarn as a lasso.

"So you two really do have powers?" Soos asked. "Dude, did you make a wish with a spooky cat alien to get them?!"

"Uh, no," Teru answered, slightly confused. "Kageyama and I were born with them. There are other people in this world with powers, but if I were you, Kageyama would be the one I trust most."

At this point Mob was blushing in embarrassment, looking away.

"You really look up to him, I see," Ford pointed out.

"I sure do! If you need someone to save the world, call on this guy!" Teru put a hand on Mob's shoulder, the boy turning even redder with the praise.

Ford glanced at Stan. _If you ever need someone to save the world,_ he thought, _you can count on my brother, too._ But he didn't say anything.

"Heyyy, Teruki~!" Mabel popped up from behind him. "Can we order a pizza for dinner tonight? ...Do you have pizza in this dimension?"

"Mabel, we're in Japan," Dipper reminded her, popping up from behind Mob. "Don't you want to try something new? Taste a bit of culture?"

"I've eaten Chinese takeout before, silly; that's close enough, right?"

"Mabel, are you serious?! That could be really offensive!"

"A pizza sounds great!" Teru said casually. "Do you prefer squid or eel?"

Dipper and Mabel's faces fell dramatically. 

"I'm up for trying squid pizza!" Stan announced.

"Me too!" Soos added eagerly.

***

"This was a mistake," Stan mumbled, looking vaguely green. 

"I've never been more happy with a decision," Soos said in contrast, patting his stomach in satisfaction after having gobbled down his first piece.

Mabel held her piece of squid pizza in her hands, staring at it with intensity. _I've eaten weirder things before,_ she reminded herself. _Aren't you supposed to be_ less _picky as you grow older? Do it for Teruki! Do it for Teruki!_ She forced herself to take a huge first bite. As she chewed, her apprehension melted away. "Hey...! This actually isn't bad!" She laughed as she saw her Grunkle Stan's face. "Just pretend it's chicken and you'll be fine, Grunkle Stan!"

Meanwhile, Dipper was trying to mimic Ford's bravery about the situation. _He's not making a face, so you shouldn't make a face,_ he thought, trying to give himself a pep talk. _I can only imagine all the gross things he had to eat in those other dimensions. Suck it up, Dipper! Try to be like Ford!_

"Well, I'll be going now," Teru informed them, standing up and grabbing the duffle bag beside him. He had packed it full of the things he would need as he stayed over at Mob's. "Kageyama and I will be back tomorrow morning. Get a good night's rest!"

"Thank you!" Mabel called out as Mob and Teru left the apartment. "For feeding us! And letting us stay here! Come back as soon as you caaan!"

As soon as the two were gone, Dipper sighed. "I should have known," he said.

"What?" Mabel asked innocently.

"Nothing." Instead, he held out his partially eaten pizza to Mabel. "Finish this for me?"

"Sure thing, dip-dop!"


	4. What's that singing?

"Welcome home, Niisan! And Hanazawa." Ritsu opened the front door to their house, stepping aside to let the two boys inside. "Mom and dad already rolled out a spare mat for Hanazawa in your room."

"Thanks, Ritsu," Mob said as he walked inside, smiling at his brother.

Mob led Teru to his room, and Ristu trailed along, asking questions about the foreign people Mob had mentioned briefly to him via text. Mob told the whole story as he understood it, and by the end of it, Ritsu had on his classic expression of suspicion and judgement.

"You didn't sense anything weird from them, then?" Ritsu asked. He trusted his brother, but he was still protective.

Mob looked like he wanted to say no, but something made him hesitate.

"What is it? You can be honest," Ritsu prodded.

"Ah, I wondered if I was the only one who noticed," Teru said as he began changing into his pajamas-- just, like, right then and there in Mob's room. "What did _you_ sense, Kageyama-kun?"

_That Hanazawa kid is... strange,_ Ritsu thought, purposely keeping eye contact with his brother. _I'm not sure how he's Mob's friend sometimes. But I suppose the same could be said about Sho being my friend._

Mob grimaced nervously. "Well... I..."

"That Stan guy stole Reigen's wallet right from under his nose, for one thing," came Dimple's voice. The spirit appeared, an amused grin on his face. "That definitely made my day."

Ritsu struggled to hold back a smirk, only for Mob's sake. He knew his brother cared about his master, but Ritsu couldn't help but feel the man deserved the pick-pocketing. "Is that what's bothering you?" he asked.

Mob shook his head. "I didn't notice that, honestly. It's... something else..."

"The singing?" Dimple asked.

"Yeah, was it the singing?" Teru agreed.

Ritsu tilted his head, leaning against the doorway of his brother's room. "What singing?"

All eyes were on Mob. He awkwardly sat down on his own bed mat, taking a deep breath. "The same Stan that Dimple mentioned... There was an... Eerie vibe around him. The kind you only notice with psychic powers. And if you focused in on the vibe, you could hear... Singing."

Ritsu shifted his feet uncomfortably. "Like, what kind of singing? Did he just have a song stuck in his head?"

Mob shook his head. "It was so strange... It was almost as if there was a... _spirit_ stuck to him. Or maybe a curse. But I didn't mention it, I didn't want to be rude..."

"Were you able to make out the words?" Teru asked. "I wasn't quite able to."

Mob shivered. "I... think so..."

"Well?" Ritsu pressed, concerned.

"Something... like..."

_We'll meet again_

_Don't know where, don't know when_

_But I know we'll meet again, some sunny day..._

_***_

"Mabel, sweetie, what are you doing up?"

Mabel squeaked in surprise, nearly hitting her head as she pulled it out of the freezer. "Oh!! Sorry, Grunkle Ford, did I wake you up?"

"Well, no, I was awakened by Stan's snoring... but then I heard you out here." He raised an eyebrow, staring at Mabel, who was illuminated in the darkness by the glow of the freezer light. "Are you trying to rob our benefactor?"

"No!" She waved her hands in denial. "I was just, uh, looking for ice cream! ...I guess that _would_ be robbing that cute boy, huh..." With a sigh, she closed the freezer. "Well, then, ahem... Goodnight!"

Ford extended an arm in front of her, stopping her from leaving the kitchen. "Are you alright? I mean, I've learned to expect to your spontaneity, but... ice cream at four in the morning?"

Mabel didn't fight him. "Ice cream is the best medicine for nightmares," she said quietly. 

"Oh, Mabel..." Ford guided her over to the nearest couch, his steps guided by the few nightlights around the apartment. They both sat down, Ford pulling her close. "I take it, er, meowing yourself to sleep doesn't work anymore?"

"Not really," Mabel admitted, sleepily resting her head against him. "Especially not when it wakes up Dipper sometimes. I've started to feel real awful when I wake him up at night, so I try not to anymore." Then she added, trying to lighten the mood, "Maybe all that squid pizza gave me nightmares."

Uncertain of the best approach to help his grand niece, Ford asked, "Do you want to talk about the dreams?"

"Mmmm..." Mabel droned, considering. "Not really. It's just the past all jumbled up with the future. It doesn't even make sense when I'm awake. It just... feels real when I'm dreaming, you know?"

"I know," Ford sympathized.

Mabel's voice grew unsteady. "I just... I really hate... When I'm having a good dream... And I'm, like, doing something fun with Dipper... but next thing I know... He isn't Dipper anymore... And I... I can't... I can't run... I can't move... I can't scream for help... And..." She covered her face with her hands. "I feel like such a wimp. Getting scared by silly dreams, even though they're not even real, and I know I'm safe now."

"You're not a wimp," Ford argued gently. "You and Dipper are the two bravest kids I know. Why, you impress me everyday how you hold your own! The fact you've moved forward with your life, and kept on smiling... You amaze me, Mabel."

"Whaaaat?" Mabel sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve. "S-serious?"

"Absolutely." Ford gave her his warmest smile. "What happens in dreams doesn't matter. Because in _reality,_ you're strong enough, as well as smart enough, to conquer anything that challenges you."

Mabel was quiet for a minute, taking it in, and Ford stayed quiet as well, hoping his impromptu advice was adequate.

"Thanks, Grunkle Ford," she said. She pulled him into a tight hug. "I didn't know _you_ could be sappy, too."

"Too?"

"Grunkle Stan has a sappy side. He just hides it really good." She released him, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hands. "I'm going back to bed now. You were just as helpful as mint chocolate chip ice cream with chocolate sauce and sprinkles."


	5. So, you're espers?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heaven help me, I need to stop typing ristu every time I mean to type ritsu

The next morning, Mabel was waiting by the front door like a puppy waiting for the return of its owner. The moment there was a knock at the door, she swung it open. Sure enough, there stood Teruki and Mob. "Good morning, Teruki!! ...And Shigeo!" But something caught her eye; yet another boy... 

Sharp black hair... A mysterious glint in his eye... 

He was like the dark and mysterious contrast to Teruki, and Mabel couldn't help but stare at him with an open mouth.

"Oh, this is Ritsu, my brother," Mob said, introducing him.

"Nice to meet you, Ritsu!" Mabel said, beaming her brightest smile at the dark kid.

Ritsu gave her a suspicious glance as he walked into the apartment. _Ooooh, why do I get the feeling he has a dark and mysterious past?_ Mabel thought. _Or maybe he's just not a morning person._

"Good morning, Pine's family!" Teru greeted them all, taking off his shoes. "I'll cook you all some breakfast, and then Kageyama has something to tell you."

Mob tensed as he said so, which left Mabel wondering if she should be worried. But none of that mattered-- Teruki was going to _cook them breakfast!_

***

"So, this begs the question," Mabel began conspiratorially. "We're having soup for breakfast, right? But if you think about it... isn't cereal just a soup anyway?"

Dipper nearly choked on his miso soup. "No! Not at all, I _refuse_ to agree with that."

"What do you think, Grunkle Ford? Is there a scientific definition of what makes a soup?" Mabel asked, pointing her spoon at him.

Ford sat cross legged on the floor, calmly blowing into his bowl of soup. "I plead the fifth."

Stan snickered at the comment, but the three Japanese boys were clearly confused. (You couldn't blame them for not knowing American amendments.)

"Well," Soos began, thinking hard about Mabel's comment. "Maybe cereal is, like, reverse soup. Because soup tends to be salty and with vegetables, right? And cereal is usually sweet and sometimes has strawberries or raisins in it. So, my final answer is-- cereal is reverse soup."

Mabel continued to argue, "Yeah, but if tomatoes are technically fruit, then what about tomato soup?! That's a soup that's kind of sweet and--"

"SO, SHIGEO," Dipper blurted desperately, "there was something you wanted to tell us?"

Mob slurped his soup shyly. "Well," he said quietly. "the thing is... uhm... if it isn't too much trouble..."

"Which one of you is Stan?" Ritsu spoke up for his brother, a stern look on his face.

Stanley immediately pointed to Stanford. Stanford pointed to Stanley. Soos pointed to himself.

"Ritsu, don't scare them, they're not in trouble!" Mob turned to the Pines and reassured them, "I just wanted to take Stan to Spirits and Such Consultation to speak with master Reigen. I think I might have noticed a curse of some sort attached to him; but please don't be alarmed..."

"A curse?" Stan asked. "Heh. Wouldn't be surprised. Not the first time I've been cursed. Had to get my hands back from a witch who stole them one time."

There was a stunned silence from the three espers. Ritsu's face twisted with disgust. "A witch... stole your hands?"

"I got 'em back!" Stan waggled his fingers to prove his point.

"So you're Stan then," Ritsu affirmed.

"...I may or may not be. 20 bucks and I'll tell ya."

"I don't... Why exactly would you want 20 male deer?!" Ritsu looked like he was going to lose his mind.

"I think Dimple's translation powers might have messed up," Teru laughed lightheartedly. "Anyways, Kageyama's brother and I are going to stay here while Kageyama takes Stan to his master for a consultation about that curse."

Mob got up, and after putting his dishes in the sink, began putting on his shoes to show that he was ready to go right then. 

With a sigh, Stan stood up to follow the young boy.

"I'm coming with you, Mr. Pines!" Soos declared, jumping to his feet.

"I dunno, Soos..."

"That's alright, he can come too," Mob said, his voice truly apathetic. 

Mob, Stan, and Soos left for the Spirits and Such Consultation office.

Which left Mabel staring at two complementary boys. One dark and mysterious, the other bright and pleasant.

"So, tell me all about these 'powers' you guys have!" Mabel prompted. "I know you can excorsize evil spirits, which is cool I guess, but can you... I dunno... fly?"

Teru smiled. A second later, Ritsu let out a sound of startlement as he began to float into the air, a yellow glow surrounding him. "Hanazawa, what are you doing?!"

"Demonstrating!"

"Demonstrate on yourself next time!!" 

Mabel, Dipper, and Ford watched with wide eyes, astounded. "Incredible!" Ford exclaimed. "Are these powers prevalent among most children in this dimension?"

"No, just a lucky few," Teru explained. He still hadn't set Ritsu down. 

"Me next!! Me next!!" Mabel begged, clapping her hands in excitement. A yellow glow soon surrounded her, and she found herself rising through the air. Then, she began to glide around, like a paper airplane, or a fairy, or Peter Pan. It was just like a dream... For a moment Mabel worried she might wake up.

"So, I'm going to guess that's telekinesis?" Dipper said, trying to keep cool. _Don't let him know how badly you want to fly too... It looks so fun..._ "That's pretty cool. Is it safe?"

"As long as you're not on my bad side." Teru said it with a friendly smile, but the statement still came across as foreboding. Without waiting for Dipper to ask, he lifted him up into the air too, joining Mabel.

Ritsu coughed conspicuously, reminding Teru to put _him_ down, which Teru did.

"I have powers too," Ritsu said. He lifted up everyone's spoons from the table, then made a crushing motion with his hands. The spoons writhed and twisted, dropping to the table in irreparable condition.

Teru blinked. "...Those were _my_ spoons."

"I know, Hanazawa. I was just _demonstrating_."

"Use your own spoons next time. I know you carry them around," Teru teased.

"You carry around spoons??" Mabel asked as she soared overhead. "That's so clever! You never know when you'll be in a spoon emergency! Sometimes I steal plastic spoons from the school cafeteria, just in case-- you never know!"

Ford reached into his trench coat, pulling out a notebook and pen. "So," he began, avidly scrawling down notes, "you're both called 'espers'? How long have you had these powers? And, more importantly, why haven't you tried to take over the world with them yet? Just an innocent question."

"Oh, believe me," Teru said, happy to tell his story, "I was born with these powers, and I was convinced the world was mine for the taking. Kageyama taught me a lesson, though, and I've never looked back."

"People who try to take over the world are the worst," Ritsu put in. "I've learned from my brother that the world doesn't belong to anyone just because they're powerful."

"We're all commoners," Teru agreed. "And we've got to rely on each other."

Ford scribbled down their words. "Fascinating ideology," he murmured. "Your dimension is truly lucky. You kids are wiser than most adults."

"Uhm," Dipper called down from the air, "Teruki, I'm feeling a bit sick... Can you put me down now?"

Teru gently set the two twins back down, releasing them from his powers. 

"I can use pyrokinesis too," Teru told them. "But I don't think I want to demonstrate that right now. My apartment has already gotten destroyed once, and I'd rather not have to move again."

"Oh no, did you set your apartment on fire?" Dipper asked.

Teru shook his head. "It wasn't some careless accident with my powers. I was attacked by another esper, and my apartment suffered the damage."

"Are fights between other espers common?" Ford asked. When he wasn't writing, he was chewing on the end of his pen.

"Used to be. But it's been pretty peaceful now that Claw has been taken down."

"Claw?"

Ritsu exhaled. "Now _that's_ a long story. Let's just say, they were an organization that tried to take over the world. But my brother stopped them."

Ford nodded. "We actually have a similar story from our dimension. A whole saving-the-world plot complete with heroes and everything."

"My Grunkles saved the world!" Mabel bragged.

"Well, it was Stan, really..."

"You deserve credit too, Ford," Dipper chastised. 

_Speaking of Stan_ , Ford thought, internally worried, _I hope Mr. Reigen can take care of whatever curse may be on him. I sure hope it doesn't have anything to do with..._

He left that thought unfinished.


	6. Are you like me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> serizawa, soos, and reigen are the "underlined in red squiggly lines" gang in this chapter, since google insists I am spelling everything terribly wrong

"Welcome to Spirits and Such Consultation, how may I-- oh, hey Mob." Reigen glanced up from his computer to see Mob walk in with Stan and Soos. "Why'd you bring them back? I thought you and Hanazawa were going to try to make them a portal or something."

"We still are," Mob said. "But, shishou, there's a problem... A curse related problem."

Reigen's eyes widened. "Oh, curses! Now _there's_ something I can deal with. Please, sirs, take a seat!" He snapped his fingers. "Serizawa!"

Serizawa snapped to attention. "Yes?"

"Get our guests something to snack on. I take it from the last time we met they're not interested in tea, so..."

"Yessir!" Serizawa knew which drawer to open, pulling out a couple boxes of strawberry and chocolate Pockys. He offered them to Soos and Stan.

Soos excitedly accepted, choosing strawberry. "I love these things! Have you ever had them before, Mr. Pines?"

"I don't know if I can trust... wait, does that say chocolate?" Stan took the box, inspecting it. "Huh. I guess I can't turn down chocolate." He raised an eyebrow at Reigen as the man sat across from them. "Do you charge extra for these?"

"What? No, of course not!" Reigen answered with a friendly laugh. "They're simply a courtesy. We hope you can feel at home here in the Spirits and Such Con..." He trailed off, his expression falling from a smile to scrutiny. "I just realized. Do you guys even have any money to pay me? I don't run a charity."

 _'The Spirits and Such Con' was a bad place to trail off,_ Stan thought in amusement. "Sure do." He pulled out a few bills from his pocket-- some of the yen he had gotten from Reigen's wallet. "See, Soos and I run a tourist trap back home. Some foreigners came to visit the other day and paid me this. Will this do?"

Dimple hovered in the air near Mob, unseen and silent as he observed. _Does he seriously think Reigen will fall for that?_

"Ah, excellent!" Reigen said, brightening up immediately.

Dimple's invisible jaw dropped. _HE FELL FOR IT! The guy is going to get paid with his own money!!_

"So, let's begin with a few questions, if you don't mind. I need to get the gist of what might have caused this curse." Reigen intertwined his fingers and rested his chin on top of them, elbows on his knees. "Have you done anyone wrong lately?"

Stan considered the question as he munched on a pocky, thinking deeply. "The question is probably more like, who haven't I done wrong? People might call me rude, but I call it 'giving it to them straight, no sugar coating it'. Unless I'm trying to sell them something. Then, _lots_ of sugar coating."

"Ahah. So, you mentioned you run a business," Reigen prompted. "Have you, perhaps, swindled anyone?"

Stan laughed. And laughed. He laughed heartily, and Reigen laughed along hesitantly out of nervousness.

"Listen, kid," Stan said, lowering his voice and leaning in towards Reigen. "Don't think I don't know you're my kind."

"Er... your kind?" Reigen asked, lowering his voice as well.

"All that's missing from _your_ business is a big ol' sign saying NO REFUNDS," the old man remarked, a pocky sticking from his mouth like a cigarette. "Perhaps I could give you a few business-running tips. I'd expect that to give me a discount from your little 'consultation', of course."

Reigen's eyes narrowed. "What makes you think you could advise me at all?"

"Hey, isn't your culture big on 'respect your elders'?" Stan held up a finger. "Here's a little morsel for ya. Stan's Business Advice number one: Asterisks. Lots of asterisks."

Reigen stared, blinking in silence. Was he offended, or...?

"Serizawa," the self proclaimed psychic said suddenly.

"Yessir?"

"Bring me a notebook and pen."

***

Serizawa, Mob, and Soos stood out in the hallway outside of Spirits and Such Consultation. Reigen had kicked them out-- er, asked them to wait outside, whilst he had a discussion with Stan. "Let me know right away if any more clients come to visit," he'd instructed them.

"I pretty much already know all that stuff Mr. Pines is telling Mr. Reigen," Soos bragged to the two Spirits and Such employees. "I've worked for him for 11 years, 10 months, and 14 days, after all."

Serizawa, who was trying to stand as straight and professional as he could, looked impressed. "You've kept track of that?"

"It's important to remember the exact day you were hired," Soos stated matter-of-fact-ly. "You never know if a future employer will ask."

"O-oh! Right, I think I've read that in an advice book before!"

After that, an awkward silence grew. Soos began twiddling his thumbs, Serizawa remained alert, and Mob began messaging someone on his phone. 

"So..." Soos began, hungry for a conversation. (And also just hungry in general. If only he hadn't gobbled up those pockys so quickly.) "How is it, working for Mr. Reigen?"

Serizawa looked at Soos, double checking that the question was directed at him. "Working for Master Reigen is... pleasant," he answered, sounding sincere. "He's wiser than you think. And he genuinely cares for his customers' well being. He's even more caring for his employees." Serizawa shifted his feet. "I'm not sure how much I should say about him, but I can tell you that he's willing to risk his life for his employees. He's really admirable."

Soos grinned. "I can say the same about Mr. Pines. He can be grumpy, and maybe a teeny tiny tad bit dishonest" -- an understatement-- "but deep down, underneath the five-o-clock shadow and wrinkles, he's a real stand up dude."

***

"...Some might say that permanent bumper stickers are unethical," Stan was saying to Reigen. "But _I_ say, cars depreciate quickly anyway."

***

"So, is Mr. Reigen like a father figure to you too?" Soos asked, trying to make a connection to this fellow employee.

Serizawa stared at Soos in bewilderment.

"...I'm a year older than him."

"Oh."

Soos glanced at Mob beside him, who was still texting.

"How about you, Shigeo?" Soos asked. "How do you like working for Mr. Reigen?"

Mob looked up from his phone. "I agree with Serizawa. We've had disagreements, but in the end, shishou is truly a good person."

***

"Let's see..." Reigen sat at his computer desk, scrolling with his mouse. Stan stood nearby, watching his screen. "Are you sure bobble heads are a good advertising tool?"

"They're fantastic!" Stan assured him. "Put some of those handsome suckers up for sale, and everyone will be wanting one!"

Reigen grinned at the thought, but his grin turned into a grimace. "I should tell you that I became an internet sensation one time-- and not in a good way. You wouldn't believe the way my image was... ahem... desecrated. I'm sure some hooligans would get a hold of these only to vandalize them. Marker-mustaches would be the least of it."

"Eh," Stan said with a shrug. "Then just order some more. At least you're sellin' them. As the saying goes, even bad publicity is good publicity."

Reigen took in a deep breath, staring down the price that the website displayed.

His index finger hovered over the mouse.

"Oh, what the heck?"

Click.

***

"I'm sure you've been wondering about the rest of your family," Mob said to Soos, finally closing his phone and putting it away.

"Oh, definitely! Have they been doing alright?"

Mob nodded. "Hanazawa says that they've all been distracted by video games. My apologies."

"Apologies for what, dude? That I'm missing out?" Soos said with a chuckle.

"That we haven't been focusing on getting you back home very well..." Mob stared down at the floor.

Soos pat him on the back. "Don't worry about it, dude. Adventures are kinda our family thing anyway. Take all the time you need. ...To a certain extent of course."

The door swung open behind them.

"Alright," Reigen announced, "Back to business! Come in, come in!" He seemed particularly in a good mood, even humming as he waved the three back into his office. "We'll continue the consultation about the curse now. I'm going to especially need your help, Mob, since you're the one who noticed."

"Okay, shishou." 

Stan and Soos sat once more on the office couch while Reigen and Mob sat across from them.

"It seems to me that figuring out the cause of this curse might be pointless, and we should focus on what _kind_ of curse it is instead." Reigen crossed his legs, leaning back into his chair.

"Do you have any songs stuck in your head, by chance?" Mob spoke up.

Stan seemed surprised by the question. "That's a kind of curse? Seriously?"

"You'd be surprised," Reigen said cryptically. "Well?"

"Now that you mention it... There's this old song that's been popping into my head off and on for a while. But I don't think it's a curse; it's just an old song from an old classic movie."

Reigen prompted, "Which would be...?"

Mob held his breath.

"It goes, 'We'll meet again' or something or other. Why?"


	7. You thought it'd be easy?

"That's it," Mob confirmed, his voice and expression serious. "That's the song I've been hearing, shishou."

"Ah... Well, this could be a great opportunity for me to try out these brand new salts I got imported from--" Reigen stopped as he saw Mob's expression. "O-or maybe not this time. Go at it, Mob."

Mob stood up, extending his arm towards Stan. He closed his eyes in concentration. A glow surrounded the boy, and Stan and Soos marveled at it. As the glow surrounded Stan, he closed his eyes as well as if preparing for a shot at the doctor's office. Reigen rested his chin in his hand, completely unworried.

Mob flinched.

"Mob? Is everything alright?" Reigen asked, his carefree attitude taking a 180 turn.

Mob shut his eyes tighter, gritting his teeth. "Shishou, I... I think that..." His eyes suddenly flew open, and his glow disappeared immediately.

"Why'd you stop?!" Reigen demanded.

"I... I had to," Mob said, voice laced with alarm. "The curse wasn't disappearing-- it was absorbing my powers and getting _stronger._ "

Stan opened his eyes as well, staring at the ground, frowning. "Maybe I need to let you guys in on a little secret after all," he mumbled.

Soos's eyes filled with understanding. "You don't think this has to do with...?"

"I do think, Soos." Stan laughed darkly under his breath. "One of the very last memories that came back to me was his final message. I thought it was gibberish-- he was panicking, his appearance was fluctuating, so gibberish would make sense... But what if it wasn't? What if, in his final moments... He put some kinda curse on me?"

Reigen coughed loudly. "Excuse me. What are we talking about here?"

"A demon," Stan answered gravely. "Named Bill Cipher."

***

"Ah man, I'm out," Mabel groaned. She handed over her controller to Ford, who was eager to play a game in such high definition (he hadn't seen the advancement of technology during his years in the portal). Only four players could play this game at a time, so the loser gave up their controller to the person left out. Teru, Ristu, and Dipper sat on the floor, while Ford and Mabel sat on the couch. "How are you all so good at this fighting game? I thought choosing the toughest looking character meant I'd be stronger... but," she got up and pressed her finger to the TV on Teru's character, "he's playing the cutest little guy and kicking our butts!"

"Appearance has nothing to do with it. It's all _skill_ ," Dipper bragged. As he did, his character fell off screen, and the letters KO appeared in bold red text. He blushed as Mabel laughed at him.

"Whatever," she said, walking away casually. "You boys have fun getting beat up by a cartoon kitty. My money's on Teruki~!"

Once she was out of the living room and in the hallway, she quickly snuck off to Teru's room. She stepped up to his closet and dramatically slid open the sliding closet door.

"Wow..."

Teru's fashion choices were, as Mabel had expected, _dreamy_. At least in her eyes. Pacifica would probably call it all "gross" and "tacky", but Mabel had been trying to teach her to accept more fashion styles than just "rich dinner party attendee". 

Pacifica probably would have also said something like "all those colours make my eyes hurt". But Mabel's eyes didn't hurt! They'd been desensitized long ago to bright and bold colours and patterns such as these.

Mabel ran back into the living room sporting a pastel purple hoodie with turquoise trim that she'd stolen from his closet. "Teruki!" she announced. "You have _got_ to tell me where you find your incredibly stylish outfits!"

Teru didn't take his eyes off the TV screen, but he still smiled broadly. "Oh, why thank you, Mabel! I--"

"YES!" Ritsu exclaimed, raising his controller into the air in celebration. "All that practicing with Niisan paid off! I beat you all!"

"Wowie!" Mabel said in admiration. "Maybe you could be, like, my video game tutor or something, Ritsu. You're so much smarter than me!"

"Oh. Uh, thanks." Ritsu looked away, sounding embarrassed.

"You'll have to teach me how to beat everybody while being the cutest character in the game. The look on Soos's face when he gets back and I destroy him with Mizzabelle the Kitty Mayor! ...Why is she in a fighting game anyway?"

A sudden loud and cheerful tune rang out, emanating from Teru. The blonde pulled out his phone, which was blaring its j-pop ringtone at full volume. "Hey, Kageyama-kun," he answered. "What's up?"

There was a moment of silence. Mabel was tempted to run up and press her ear to the phone, but suppressed the impulse. Instead, she whispered loudly, "Tell him Mabel says hi!"

However, Teru's expression fell slightly. "Yes, Ford is right here. I'll hand the phone to him." He did so, and the older man accepted the phone, confused.

"Hello? ...Yes... I see. That's good to know."

Dipper and Mabel waited, holding their breath.

"Thank you for telling me Shigeo." Ford hung up the phone. Then he smiled. "Stan's alright. No reason to be alarmed."

Dipper and Mabel exhaled at the same time, relieved. Quickly, Mabel's mind was elsewhere. She sat herself close to Ritsu. _R_ _eal_ close. "Teach me your ways!"

***

"It... is for the best, right?" Mob asked, putting his phone away.

Stan nodded solemnly. "I can't have my family worrying about me right now. Not when they're already worried about getting back home."

Soos was looking sick. "Mr. Pines..."

"I'm trusting you, Soos," Stan told him. "I know I can always trust you to do what's best for the kids."

Soos nodded, looking a bit miserable. He wasn't the kind of guy to keep secrets; quite the opposite, in fact. But he would just have to this time.

"Remind me to never go inside your brain again," Dimple griped, making a face. "I'm a ghost for heaven's sake, and even _I_ got creeped out by that place." The green spirit had appeared at Mob's request, and had earlier entered Stan's mind to inspect the curse further. As for what he'd discovered...

***

_"What in the...?"_

_Dimple cast his eyes around the black and white place. In front of him was... a house. It looked like it was falling apart. However, as he drifted closer, he could hear what sounded like sounds of construction. Being a ghost, he simply drifted through the front door._

_Inside was a rickety stairway. Dimple followed it down to a hallway labeled "Memories". Here, the sounds of construction were loudest, and Dimple could see where they were coming from now._

_"Eh? What are_ you _doing here?" he asked, startled at who he saw._

_In front of him, hammering a door into the wall with a sparkly pink hammer, was... Mabel Pines?_

_"Hey!" she said, turning to him. "Welcome to Stan's memories! I'm not the real Mabel, I'm just a representation of Stan's memory recovering. What can I do for ya, ghosty?"_

_"Don't call me ghosty." Dimple looked up and down the expansive hallway lined with doors that looked newly repaired, though some were still hanging off their hinges slightly. "I'm just here to look into whatever curse this guy's got on him."_

_"Oooh, that..." Made-Up Mabel shook her head, clicking her tongue. "I'll take you there. Follow me!"_

_Made-Up Mabel walked down the dark, slightly creepy hallway, humming a happy tune. Dimple caught a glimpse of a few memories through some doors that were slightly ajar._

_"Wanna hear a joke? It goes: My ex wife still misses me! BUT HER AIM IS--"_

_"Fine, I'll try Mabel Juice, but just a sip... HACK! COUGH! SPLUTTER! Various noises of choking on a toy dinosaur!"_

_"Doo doo doo, throwing these speeding tickets into the bottomless pit..."_

_Made-Up Mabel stopped in front of a large, ornate door with padlocks on it. "You're sure you wanna go in here?" she asked, holding up a ring of keys._

_"Yeah," Dimple said reluctantly._ Really, I just wanna get out of here, _he thought._ But Shigeo asked me to find out about this curse...

_Made-Up Mabel unlocked each padlock, then quickly stepped back as the door swung open slightly. "Careful," she warned. "Even_ I _don't wanna mess with whatever's in there. Well, bye-bye!" She walked away, tossing her hammer in the air like a baton.  
_

_Dimple braced himself, then slipped in through the open door. Inside was..._

_A gramophone?_

_The room was void of anything else but a classic gramophone, with sat on a simple little wooden table. Dimple approached it suspiciously. It had a record in it, which spun around calmly. It was playing a song._

_Ahah! So this was the song they'd been hearing! A lady's voice sang to old 1930's music._

_"We'll meet again... Don't know where, don't know when..."_

_The green ghost noticed that another record sat on the table. It had no label._

_"Well, what the heck?"_ _Dimple's arms appeared as he tried to figure out how to switch out the record. "How do you work this thing... Ah, there we go."_

_Voices began to come from the gramophone as the record spun steadily._

_"Hey, look at me. Turn around and look at me, you one eyed demon!" came Stan's voice. "You're a real wise guy, but you made one fatal mistake. You messed with my family!"_

_A new, unfamiliar voice began. Just hearing it made Dimple shiver. "You're making a mistake! I'll give you anything! Money, fame, riches, infinite power, your own galaxy, PLEASE! What's hAPPENING TO ME?!" What followed sounded like complete gibberish. It wasn't in another language; Dimple would have been able to understand it. Afterwards, Dimple could clearly hear the voice scream, "STANLEYYY!"_

_The record stopped there. Then it began to repeat itself._

It must be on a gramophone for a reason, _Dimple thought. He stopped the record-- then played it again backwards._

_"!YYYELNATS A-X-O-L-O-T-L! MY TIME HAS COME TO BURN! I INVOKE THE ANCIENT POWER THAT I MAY RETURN! !?EM TO GNINEPPAh s'tahw--"_

_Dimple stopped the gramophone, eyes wide. So, this was the Bill Cipher that Stan had told them about? Axolotl... What did that have to do with--?_

_For the first time, Dimple noticed a glow coming from inside the gramophone's horn. The ghost cautiously peered inside._

_Inside the gramophone's horn was... an orb of some sorts. As he looked closer, Dimple realized there was something inside of the orb._

_A baby axolotl._

_The orb was an egg. And, Dimple realized he hadn't been careful enough-- part of him was drifting away in green wisps, as if the orb were sucking in his power._

_"I'M OUTTA HERE!" Dimple announced, zooming away frantically. He quickly left Stan's mind to tell the others what he'd seen._

***

After Dimple had told them about what he'd seen, Stan had insisted they call his family and tell them he was fine.

For now, they planned to just wait it out. After all, for now, the curse seemed harmless (though foreboding). Maybe if they just... left it alone... it'd all be fine...

"Here." Stan held out some money to Reigen. "It's yours."

"Oh, no, I wouldn't feel right taking this," Reigen said, holding up a hand in denial. "We didn't even get rid of the curse. I don't take money I didn't earn."

Stan grinned. "No, it's _literally_ yours."

"What?"

...As for what they'd discovered, Stan was going to keep that secret for now.


	8. Are you okay?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hold up... would it be... soos'? Or soos's? uhhh  
> also sorry for inconsistent chapter updates, maybe every other day was too ambitious lol  
> I try to take time to make each one good so,,, hope they're worth the wait :)

"Soos, seriously, quit the crying," Stan ordered.

Mob was walking the two back to Teru's place. On the way, Soos seemed to be experiencing inner turmoil. He was obviously struggling to keep a poker face, but it wasn't working at all, and tears ran down his cheeks as he pressed his lips together tightly.

"I can't help it, Mr. Pines," Soos said, dabbing his eyes with the inside of his t-shirt. "I-I just worry about you, you know, and I don't think I can pretend you're fine when you're not..."

Stan sighed, glancing around the street. No one was paying much attention to them; Mob was the only one really close by. Soos watched as Stan dropped his grumpy countenance, and for a brief moment, kindness shone through his eyes. He firmly put a hand on Soos's shoulder as they walked. "I'm fine, kid, really," he insisted, giving Soos a sincere smile. "I've been through worse than a song stuck in my head, y'know?"

"But... the magic eating axolotl thingy..."

"It just eats magic, right? And I ain't got any magic, so I'll be fine," the older man said dismissively. "The thing was probably a metaphor or some other junk anyway. I dunno. Brains are weird. Listen, Soos. If anything _does_ happen, anything at all, I know you guys can handle it. I know I can trust my family with my life."

 _That... insinuates that I'm family too, right?_ Soos thought, thinking he might tear up again. "O-okay..."

Stan took his hand off of Soos's shoulder. "Now, quit being a crybaby," he snapped, back to his usual self.

Soos grinned. "Yes sir, Mr. Pines."

***

"HUG ATTACK!" 

The moment Stan set foot in the apartment, Mabel launched herself at him out of nowhere. Stan was helpless against the ambush, and was left with no choice but to counterattack by hugging her right back and swinging her around. 

"Soos, you're missing out, man!" Dipper called from over by the TV. "Come look at all the characters these guys have unlocked in this game!"

Soos made his way over to Dipper, passing by Ford, who was marching over to his brother. Ford cleared his throat, arms folded, tapping his foot gently. "Stan. Look me in the eyes."

Stan, still grinning as Mabel playfully clung to him, did as he was told. "What, poindexter?"

"You know what." Ford gave his brother his most drilling stare. "Everything's fine? Truly?"

Stan nodded, keeping eye contact with Ford. "Nothing to worry about. Really."

Ford held the stare longer. Stan just made a goofy face.

Ford broke the staring contest, giving up on the interrogation. "I do appreciate your help, Shigeo," the perpetual-trench-coat man told the quiet boy. "I have some ideas to discuss with you, too." He pulled out a notebook from his coat, flipping through pages filled with concepts and theories. "You see, if by chance you're unable to find a way to open a portal with your powers, then I would suggest we begin running tests on the wormhole that is the bottomless pit..."

Stan walked away, feeling bad for poor Mob, who was suddenly subjected to listening to Ford's ramblings. He could go for a nice Pitt Cola right now; time to ask Teru if he had any soda in his fridge.

***

"...and, if the lab rats return alive, we will simply have to invent a lab-rat-thought-translation device that will allow us to know whether or not they successfully made it to the right dimension," Ford was saying.

Mob was trying his best to be polite, he really was; but science wasn't his strong suit, and even with Dimple's translation powers working perfectly, sometimes he _still_ didn't understand a word the man was saying. He really wished he could play video games with the others... 

Suddenly, a happy tune rang out at the opportune moment. "Sorry," Mob apologized quickly, taking out his phone and stepping away. "I need to take this."

"Oh, sure, no problem!" Ford said casually.

Mob answered his phone, only to realize he was now just going from one social interaction to another. Maybe the phone ringing wasn't such a rescue after all... "Hello?"

"MOB! I've been texting you for the past half hour, why have you ignored me?!" Tome's voice blared through the phone's speakers.

"Er... I've been busy. Is it an emergency?"

"Well, no," she conceded. "Unless being driven insane with curiosity is an emergency. I've been wanting to know how the Pines family is doing."

"Oh." Mob glanced over at them. "They're doing just fine. We haven't figured out a way to send them home yet, but..."

"Great. Because I've _got_ to learn more about them while they're here. I can't miss this opportunity!"

"Er... Tome..."

"You said they were staying over at Hanazawa's, didn't you, Mob? I'll be over there tomorrow morning, so make sure they don't leave yet!!"

"Wait--"

Tome hung up before he could protest further.

As Mob put his phone away in defeat, Ritsu came up to him. He leaned in close and whispered, "Niisan, do you think we could go home now? I still don't quite trust these people, and that girl keeps _staring at me..._ "

"What'cha whispering?" Mabel seemed to appear out of nowhere at Ritsu's side. "What dark, edgy secrets are you hiding...?"

Ritsu jumped at the sound of her voice. "N-Nothing!" 

"Fine, keep your secrets," she said ominously, walking away slowly, keeping eye contact until she disappeared from sight into the hall. "It'll keep things... interesting...!"

Ritsu stared at his brother silently, pleading with his eyes. Mob was conflicted. He didn't like seeing his brother look so uncomfortable, but he still felt it would be rude to leave so suddenly--

"Ah, Mob, I see you're off the phone!" came Ford's voice. "So, as I was saying about the mind reading device for rats--"

"Sorry!" Mob interrupted, flustered. "I've, er, got to take my brother home now. We've, uh, got to help our parents make dinner. Come on, Ritsu!"

Before Mob had time to feel guilty about lying, he and Ritsu were already out the door and on their way home.

"...Huh," Ford said to himself. "Dinner at 3 in the afternoon?" He shrugged, going back to studying his notes.

***

"We're lucky to be in a dimension with toothbrushes," Ford told the young twins. Except, his toothbrush was in his mouth, so it came out all garbled.

Somehow, Mabel understood Toothbrushian perfectly. She spoke it as well, replying, "I'm really impressed you kept all your teeth, Grunkle Ford. Or DID YOU? Do you secretly have dentures like Grunkle Stan?! Or, is toothbrushing just a CONSPIRACY?"

"Mabel, please," Dipper complained, taking his toothbrush out of his mouth to speak. "You're spitting all over the place talking like that."

"I can assure you," Ford said, completely ignoring Dipper and still talking with his toothbrush in his mouth, "that brushing your teeth is _not_ a conspiracy. Trust me, cavities are very real."

"Oh, I know," Mabel said, finally spitting her toothpaste into the sink. "I've gotten 7 of them!"

Dipper said with certainty, "You'll be the first to lose your teeth when we get old, that's for sure." 

"Oh, like you can judge, Mr. I-wear-the-same-thing-everyday," Mabel teased back.

"It's more convenient!! And I'm saving water that would be wasted needlessly washing clothes, so!"

"Agreed," Ford said, rinsing off his toothbrush. "Laundry is too time consuming. Fun fact, I once found myself in a dimension where people were permanently born with their outfits."

"Grunkle Staaaaaan!" Mabel called out, poking her head out of the bathroom doorway. "Would I save time and money if I stopped brushing my teeth and just got dentures like you?"

Ford stuttered in horror. "M-Mabel, that's-- that's completely different than what Dipper and I--!"

"Dentures cost money too, sweetheart," Grunkle Stan answered. He walked down the hallway towards them, yawning sleepily. "Try to keep those teeth-- you got braces for a reason."

"Stupid braces," Mabel muttered. The list of things that Mabel truly hated was a very small list, but braces were definitely on it. As well as Celestabellebethabelle.

Now, the list of things she loved? Way too long! She'd literally tried writing it out, but it would have ended up as long as one of those jargon-filled sci-fi books Ford liked to read. Still, she'd gotten the top 500 down. Sometimes she went down the list to cheer herself up. 1: Her family. (She had tried writing out each member individually, but that would have made it look like a tier list, and she refused to put any family member above another.) 2: Waddles. 3: Her friends--

Waddles!

Mabel gasped out loud. "Oh my gosh!"

"What's wrong?" Dipper asked quickly.

Mabel's eyes began to fill with tears. "I... I can't believe I didn't think of this before... Who's gonna take care of Waddles while we're stuck here?!"

Dipper grabbed his sister's hand, squeezing it reassuringly. "It's okay, he's a pig, he'll eat anything he finds!"

"But..."

"I'm sure Wendy will take care of 'im too," Stan added from the hallway. "That pig wouldn't be safer with anyone else."

Mabel nodded, still trying to stop herself from crying. _Quit overreacting,_ that dumb voice inside of her said. That stupid voice that whispered to her terrible things like "you need to stop acting like a kid" or "you'll have to grow up someday, you can't run from it, time is constantly moving forward and you can't do anything about it" and--

Well, now she was getting way ahead of herself.

Waddles would be fine. She could trust what her brother and Grunkle Stan said.

_It's all my fault we're stuck here in the first place._

Those stupid thoughts were back.

_It's my fault again. How many times am I gonna mess up?_

"Mabel?" Dipper may not have been able to actually read her mind, but his sibling intuition tended to be close enough. His eyes reflected a sort of vague understanding, an understanding that Mabel was feeling guilty. He didn't say what he knew out loud, but his sympathetic expression was enough. He even pulled her into a hug. It wasn't an awkward sibling hug; it was a sincere, I-care-about-you-more-than-I-admit hug.

"Hey, dudes, so I was totally snooping around the place and I found-- Oh, whoops, am I interrupting a moment?" Soos stopped awkwardly in the doorway.

Mabel broke away from the hug, smiling once again. "You have perfect timing, Soos. What on earth did you find?" _Please cheer me up..._

Soos held up the fuzzy yellow thing in his hands. "This thing! It's a wig, dude! And it's not the only one; that Teruki kid's got, like, dozens of these!!"

Mabel and Dipper followed after Soos to behold the hidden wig collection that he had discovered. They tried them on, and looked like a bunch of knock-off Teru's, or weird cosplayers. Soon enough, Mabel was laughing again. 

_There's nothing like the people you love to fight off the bad thoughts in your head._


	9. How do I look?

Ding-dong!

"I'll get it!" Mabel announced, running excitedly to the door. It was the next morning, and she was looking forward to her date-- er, _day out_ , with Teru. Yesterday, after she had gone on and on about how Teru's taste in fashion was parallel to her own, he had invited her to come along with him the next day to some of his favourite clothing stores. (He hadn't even questioned the fact she'd gone through his closet. That was a good sign!) 

However, Mabel was completely surprised when she opened the front door to see...

"Ah, hello, Pines Child #2," said the girl in the doorway, holding a small silver voice recorder in one hand, and a white box in the other. "Would you please introduce yourself?"

Mabel blinked, replacing her disappointment with her natural desire for positivity and fun. "I'm Mabel Pines!" she said, putting her mouth too close to the recorder. "And who would you be, girl-with-pretty-eyelashes?"

"Wh-what?" the girl asked, startled. "I'm conflicted by the fact you just complimented me, but also insulted me by not even remembering my name. I work at the Spirits and Such Consultation Office, don't you remember?!"

"Oh, hey, Tome, right?" Dipper appeared at his sister's side. "What are you doing here?"

"SEE!" Tome pointed at Dipper with the silver recorder. "Just now, Pines Child #1 was speaking, and proving himself to have decent manners. Would you please introduce yourself?"

"Oh, uhm..." The boy hesitated, growing nervous. "I'm Dipper. Dipper Pines. I'm 13, gonna be 14 pretty soon... Uh... What else do you even want to know about me?"

"Everything!" Tome gushed. "May I please come in and conduct my full examination of you otherworldly beings?"

The twins shared a glance. Dipper had the face of someone who had just found out about a surprise quiz at school. Mabel just looked excited, thinking that an interview would be fun.

"Sure, come in! And what's in the box?" Mabel took in a deep breath; something smelled familiar. "Is that what I think it is...?"

"Ah, yes, I brought you donuts to compensate for your time." Tome came in and began taking her shoes off. 

Meanwhile, Mabel snatched the box from her, cheering, "DONUTS FOR BREAKFAST!"

"Donuts?!" Stan and Soos both asked simultaneously. Seconds later they were running over to Mabel, who held the box open to share. The whole Pines family was soon munching on donuts, even a distracted looking Ford; he ate his donut with one hand as he sketched in his notebook with the other.

"So," Tome murmured into her voice recorder, "it appears that they have donuts in their universe as well... But the question remains; are they even human?!"

"We can hear you," Dipper said, raising an eyebrow, holding a chocolate frosted donut with sprinkles. "And, yeah, we're definitely human."

"But are you? This is what we shall find out in _Tome Kurata's Encounter with Beings from Another World: Investigating the Pines_."

***

The Pines family was seated criss-cross-applesauce around the low table in the living room. The voice recorder had its own little stand to hold it up as it sat in the middle of the table, and next to it was Tome's extensive script of questions.

They'd tediously gone through many of them so far. Tome had asked them things about their world, such as historical events, weather, flora and fauna, the length of their days and years... Those things had matched up completely, of course. She had almost wanted to count Quentin Trembly's presidency as something different, but then again, she didn't know America's history anyway, and for all she knew he had existed in her dimension too. America was a crazy place, right? (However, she would definitely be searching up the town of "Gravity Falls" to see if such a town even existed...) 

A huge difference she had discovered so far, of course, was the lack of espers in the Pine's world. 

"Do you have spirits in your dimension?" Tome asked, her fingers steepled.

"Sure do," Dipper answered, who had been nervously rocking gently throughout the questioning. "I've gotten rid of-- well, several of them, now that I think about. One time at a mansion, another time at an abandoned convenience store... I've fought demons too, and plenty of monsters."

"He also got to time travel!" Soos added. "And he fought a giant robot being controlled by a creepy child with a southern accent!"

"Not to brag or anything," Dipper said shyly, a hand on the back of his neck.

"No, please, brag away!" Tome encouraged. 

"Wait, seriously?" Dipper's face lit up at the opportunity

"Of course! ...Well, perhaps hold that thought, we still have 127 more questions to get through before you can tell your stories."

"WHAT?"

While Dipper protested about how long this "interview" would take, Mabel anxiously glanced at her watch. Teru hadn't given her an exact time to expect him, and her daydreams about what would happen today were starting to get out of hand the longer she waited in suspense. (From a shopping trip together to a fancy rich person dinner to a marriage proposal under fireworks-- yeahhh, silly romantic fantasies.) So, why didn't she just pass the time away answering Tome's questions? After all, question answering, especially about herself, was always fun, right? But something was changing inside of Mabel. Something seemed to place a cold hand on her shoulder and say, _"Step down from the spotlight for once."_ So, out of guilt she had never really felt before and didn't know how to handle, she did. Dipper seemed to be having a lot of fun anyway; heyyy, maybe a thing could happen between him and this Tome girl...!

Just as she was beginning to imagine such a pairing, there was a soft knock at the front door. Mabel felt her heart nearly jump out of her chest as she sprung to her feet. "I'll get it!!"

Mabel was too excited as she ran to open the door to notice Stan get up and follow her.

"Good morning, Mabel!" Teru said when she opened the door. "I like the rose on your sweater."

"Thank you, I finished knitting this one last night!" She left out the fact that she had done so past 1 in the morning-- unimportant details.

"So," came Stan's voice from behind her. "Where exactly are you two headed today?"

Mabel giggled nervously as Stan leered down at Teru. "We're just going clothes shopping Grunkle Stan!"

Stan grunted. "Just make sure we don't end up with another 'Gideon' situation, alright?"

"Okay--"

"If anything happens, you tell me, okay?"

"Yeah--"

"You remember that bit of boxing I've been teaching ya? Wanna borrow a pair of my brass knuckles?"

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel exclaimed in exasperation. "We'll be fine! Trust me!" _Y-You do trust me... right?_

_Can I trust me?_

"Of course I trust you, sweetie." Stan ruffled her hair. "You can handle yourself just fine, that's for sure. Don't shoplift too much, okay?"

"Well--"

"Just kidding, shoplift as much as you want, I don't care!" Stan walked away cackling at his own joke.

"He's, uh, he's kidding," Mabel told Teru, leaving the apartment and closing the door behind her. "Anyway, did you know I have a pet pig?"

***

"Ahah," Tome said in triumph, "You're not completely human; you only have 28 teeth! I looked it up on the internet beforehand, and in _my_ world, humans are supposed to have 32!"

Dipper couldn't really protest coherently, as Tome was sticking a flashlight in his mouth. 

"Actually, Tome," Ford spoke up, not taking his eyes off of his notebook, "that would be because he doesn't have his wisdom teeth yet."

"Oh," Tome said in disappointment. "Well, I'll still be taking a sample of your dna and--"

Dipper gently pushed the eccentric girl away from him. "Tome, seriously, we're just as human as you are!"

She scowled, turning off her flashlight. "You don't have anything cool you're hiding? Secret wings on your back? A tail? Fire breathing? Telepathy?"

"I wish!" Soos answered, grinning at the idea. "If I had a super power like that, I'd want to be able to turn into different animals. Hey, did you know I swapped bodies with a pig once?"

Tome sighed. "Ah. Well, it does sound like you're dying to tell your stories, so... I guess I'll skip the last 83 questions, under one condition."

"What condition?" Dipper asked.

"Your stories better be interesting."

Dipper's expression brightened. "Oh, trust me, Tome-- _they're interesting._ "

***

Mabel gasped loudly, momentarily alarming the other nearby people in the store. "TERUKI! These earrings... They... They look like jelly beans!"

Teru just laughed, coming over to look at what Mabel was pointing dramatically at. "I would be careful not to accidentally eat them."

"It'd be my Grunkle Ford we'd have to watch out for; his favourite candy is jelly beans," she said, eyes darting all around at what the earring stand had to offer. "I can't, I just can't, these are all so cute-- strawberries? Donuts? Gummy bears? RUBBER DUCKIES?"

"Go ahead and pick a pair," Teru invited her. 

"H-huh?" Flustered, Mabel waved her hands. "No, no, I was just admiring them, really--!"

"It's fine, go ahead!" he insisted, walking over to a close by section of button ups. "I'll just be over here."

Mabel stood there, frozen, conflicted. She was thrilled by Teru's kind offer, but an unusual feeling was coming over her... Apprehension?

_He said you could! So why on earth would you feel bad about it? That's stupid, Mabel-- quit ackin' so cray cray, as that TV show woman would say!_

Shaking her head, as if that could dispel her worries, she focused herself on narrowing down her favorite pair. It was definitely the lollipops.

She picked up the box and ran over to Teru to show him. He acknowledged her choice with a nod and a "nice!", then turned back to looking at the shirts he was holding up, one in each hand. "Which do you think, Mabel? Lavender with horizontal beige stripes, or pink with vertical sea-foam green stripes?"

Mabel squinted as she considered. "I think purple is definitely your colour," she determined.

"I think so too!" Teru put the other shirt back, moving on. "Let me know what catches your eye, alright?"

"Definitely, will do," Mabel said, stopping to take in her surroundings for a moment. The clothing store they were in was so colourful, but in a gentle, welcoming way. Everything was so cute, just like she'd imagined Japan to be! I mean, goodness, was that a jacket covered in rainbows over there? A hoodie with a lovable cartoony panda? A tie with cats on it?!

It felt magical just being in there, gentle music playing in the background as all the colours and patterns around her seemed to dance in her eyes. The variety was almost overwhelming, in the sweetest way.

Mabel let herself wander. She discovered that somehow, this clothing store turned even edgy things cute, too; she came across a jacket with skulls all over it-- but the skulls had pink bows, so it was cute. Right? Was there some sort of science to cuteness? Like, could you take _anything_ scary, slap on some pink and sparkles, and make it cute? She would definitely have to test that! Mabel curiously began to shift through this rack of clothes, finding a cardigan covered in smiling ghosts, a sweater decorated in bats with friendly faces, a long sleeve shirt speckled with crescent moons, and--

Mabel let out a yelp, stumbling backward and falling to the ground.

Teru noticed immediately, running over to her. "Are you alright?" he crouched beside her, holding out a hand to help her up.

Mabel remained on the ground, paralyzed, staring.

Staring at a sweater covered in eyes. Eyes, staring at her. Eyes, unblinking. Eyes, that looked like... _his_.

"Mabel?" 

Mabel's gaze was broken as Teru waved a hand in front of her eyes. She finally noticed that he was trying to offer her a hand up, and she accepted. Normally, wouldn't this have made her giddy? Wouldn't this have been so romantic? But she was distracted, trying to recollect herself. "Sorry," she found herself saying. "I, uh, got a little spooked..."

Teru regarded the sweater she'd been staring at, which Mabel was now avoiding looking at. "Let's move on to the pastel section, shall we?" he said, giving her a sympathetic smile as he guided her away. "Maybe we can find you a cute skirt."

***

"GUESS WHO'S BAAACK!"

Mabel burst into the apartment. If she had been in a TV show, the camera would have dramatically panned from her feet to her face, showing off the new outfit she was wearing, with sparkles and pretty lense flares for effects. She wore pink slip-ons with a pattern that looked like delicious sprinkles. Her skirt was black with white daisies all over. She wore an adorably oversized light pink hoodie with a simple, small outline of Saturn in black. In her ears were the lollipop earrings. So, the outfit was a bit mix-and-match; but it was fun, and Mabel loved it! She also had a shopping bag hanging from her arm with surprises inside...

"Interesting," was all Tome said.

"I like it!" Dipper said, pausing in the middle of his story telling. He resumed talking to Tome, holding her voice recorder to his mouth like a microphone. "Anyway, so then the zombies had us surrounded, and..."

"Looking good!" Soos said, giving Mabel a thumbs up.

"You look beautiful, pumpkin!" Stan said.

"I particularly like your hoodie," Ford said, finally looking up from his notebook to smile at Mabel.

"Thank you everyone-- and I've got something for you guys too!" Mabel announced, holding up her shopping bag. "I picked everything out, but it was Teruki who made it possible! Everyone say thank you to Teruki! 

There was a chorus of thank yous from the Pines family. Teru stood with his hands in his jacket pockets, relaxed as he said, "No problem!"

Mabel skipped over to Dipper. "This is for you, dip-dop!" She reached into her bag, pulling out a thin summer scarf with a blue plaid pattern. She loosely tied it around his neck before taking a step back to admire her brother. "I knew it would look good on you! Next, Soos!" She pulled out a large t-shirt covered in colourful dinosaur silhouettes. "Isn't this cute?!"

"Dinosaurs! I love dinosaurs!" Soos happily accepted the shirt.

"Next, Grunkle Ford!" Mabel presented him with a dark blue bow tie speckled with stars, with some of them connected into constellations.

Ford's eyes widened as he held the bow tie in his hands, and he seemed unsure of how to respond. "I... Mabel, this is... Thank you for thinking of me."

Mabel giggled; Ford was probably unused to receiving gifts. "Of course! And, last but certainly not least, I got something for you, Grunkle Stan!"

"Is it gold?" Stan asked, half kidding. "Silver? Diamonds?"

"Well, I _was_ gonna get you a tie with cats on it... But I found something even better." Mabel pulled out the item from the bag. "It's a tie with _axolotls on it!_ Aren't they the cutest things?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went a little crazy on pinterest looking at outfits I imagined Mabel and Teru looking at :D So many art ideas now... Gotta draw these two


	10. Is the universe out to get me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> life's crazy right now. but we'll all get through it :)

How could the internet be so helpful, and yet so unhelpful?

So much information, yet Reigen felt he wasn't even close to an answer.

_ Maybe this mystery is out of my league,  _ he admitted to himself, staring intensely at his office computer screen. After all, if you couldn't find the answer on the first page of Google, would you really find it anywhere? Maybe he shouldn't be wasting his time like this. Nothing in the psychology books mentioned anything about the meaning of an axolotl, and Reigen prided himself in knowing his stuff when it came to psychology.

His internet surfing was interrupted by an email notification. He swapped tabs to see what it was.

_ "Your shipment is on its way!"  _ read the subject line.

Reigen clicked on it, just to mark it as read. But as he was about to close the email, something caught his attention.

Wait... Did... Did that say...

_ "Your shipment of 500 custom bobbleheads is on its way! Thank you for choosing Astounding Bobbleheads, please leave a review on our website--" _

FIVE HUNDRED?! He most certainly did  _ not  _ order  _ five hundred!  _ He had only ordered fifty!

_ S-surely, this is just a mistake,  _ Reigen thought, fingers trembling as he searched for his digital order receipt.  _ Maybe they made a typo...? _

He found the receipt. A bead of sweat ran down his temple.

_...or,  _ I  _ made the typo. _

"Ahah... Ahahah... Ahahahahah!" Reigen's head fell into his hands, his shoulders shaking with manic laughter.

Serizawa looked over at his employer with concern. It had been a slow day at Spirits and Such, and the dark haired man had been quietly sweeping the floor of the office when Reigen had apparently begun to lose it. "Is... everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah, just... Hey, how much storage space do we have?" Reigen asked in an obviously strained voice. 

Serizawa opened his mouth to question further, when there was a gentle knock at the door. Mob walked in a few seconds after.

"Shishou, I went to the library this morning," he said, carrying a canvas back full of books. "I probably haven't found much more than you have, but I wanted to try to help."

_ Books? Rather old fashioned, but at least he's doing his best,  _ Reigen thought. "Ah, very good, Mob, what did you find out?" He happily switched topics, hoping Serizawa wouldn't press him about his sudden panic in front of Mob.

The dark haired boy pulled out one of the books in his bag; its title said something about Aztec History. "I don't know if it's relevant," he began, holding the book out to Reigen. There was a bookmark sticking out of it, marking a specific page. "But in Aztec mythology, one of their deities is tied to axolotls, and, coincidentally, twins."

The conman's eyes went wide as he took the book from Mob's hands. Mythology? Why hadn't  _ he  _ thought of that?! "Excellent," he praised, opening the book to the marked page. "You think Stan might have invoked the anger of some sort of water lizard spirit thing, then?"

"I'm not sure. I'm still trying to connect the dots with what I found." Mob took out a book of facts on the actual animals themselves. "Did you know that axolotls can regenerate lost limbs?"

"Can they now? Interesting..." As much as Reigen was trying to pay attention, his slip up kept coming back to mind. How much exactly had they charged him for five hundred? Was he financially ruined? Would his mistake turn him into a laughing stock once again...? 

Mob's cellphone went off, and the young esper answered it. Reigen knew eavesdropping was rude, but it wasn't his fault that Mob's phone was so loud he could hear everything.

_ "Shigeo, this is Stanford borrowing Tome's phone. Would it be alright if I asked for your assistance? I would like to revisit the bottomless pit from whence we came. You aren't busy right now, are you?" _

"Uhm... Not really..."

_ "Excellent. Can we meet at the bus stop in 30 minutes?" _

***

Something fishy was going on. And Ford would know.

See, when Mabel had gifted that tie to Stan, Soos had quite audibly gasped before slapping a hand over his mouth. When Ford had shot him a questioning look, Soos's eyes had darted around as if desperately avoiding eye contact, and the repairman had loudly began humming some TV show's theme song.

Stan himself had laughed loudly, which wasn't uncharacteristic for his brother, but his hasty comment afterwards about "aren't these funny little guys? You've got uncanny taste, sweetie" sounded like it held more meaning than Stan was letting on.

Or, maybe Ford was imagining things. After all, he himself found Axolotls to be very... meaningful.

Dimension 52 came to mind... The Oracle's words...

But Ford was learning to deal with his paranoia. Not everything had a secret attached to it. Not everyone had an ulterior motive. He could trust his brother.

...Approximately 72% of the time. With a margin of error around 10%.

"I see Mob up ahead," Tome said, pointing down the sidewalk. 

The eccentric girl had insisted on coming along. After all, Ford was planning on testing out a theory of his that just might lead to the Pines family getting back home, and she was eager to witness it.

"Why do you call him 'Mob', anyway?" Dipper asked from Ford's other side. The kid stuck to Ford like a magnet, as usual-- funnily enough, Ford had left his magnet gun back home with McGucket for repairs. "Mob doesn't even sound close to Shigeo. Is it like, a Bill-William, Bob-Robert thing, but even more outlandish?"

"No, you wouldn't get it," Tome answered with a roll of her eyes. "It's the meaning of the word. It represents him, you could say."

"Oh, kinda like my nickname! What does Mob mean then?"  


"That he's--" Tome stopped herself. "Well. That he's forgettable and blends into the background easily. Now that I say that out loud, I understand that it sounds rude. But you've got to understand, it's... endearing? Oh, forget it. He doesn't mind it anyway so it's fine."

As they grew closer to Mob, Dipper mumbled under his breath, "Yeesh, I'm glad _my_ nickname isn't that harsh."

"Good afternoon, Shigeo!" Ford gave the boy a friendly smile, standing beside the bench where Mob was sitting. He would let Dipper and Tome have the room to sit; he would be fine standing. He didn't mind staying on his feet, as it made him feel younger in a way. He found little ways to rebel against the marching of his biological clock like that. 

"Good afternoon," Mob said back. His eyes were immediately drawn to his new piece of attire, but he didn't say anything.

"Well, what do you think of his bow tie, Mob?" Tome prompted, elbowing the boy as she sat beside him. "Don't just stare, it's rude."

"O-oh, I, uh, it's nice. I like it," Mob said awkwardly. 

"Why thank you, Mabel gave it to me," Ford responded with a smile. He understood that the boy wasn't the most socially adept, which he could understand. At least Mob didn't have the urge to correct others all the time as Ford did. That habit of his had almost put everyone's lives in danger as a matter of fact. _"Grammar, Stanley."_

"Hey, Shigeo," Dipper asked, sitting next to Tome. "Do you prefer to be called Mob, or should I keep calling you Shigeo? I totally understand if you prefer the nickname, because I go by a nickname all the time too."

Mob looked at the younger kid in surprise. "Oh, really? Well... I don't mind if you call me Mob."

The bus arrived not long after they'd sat down, and soon they were on their way back to the forest.

***

The forest was... Well, foresty? Dipper didn't know how else to describe it. Green? Very green. Green everywhere. The trees here in this forest were a little different than the ones back home; taller, skinnier, more mossy. The plants here seemed foreign... which made sense, because they were. Maybe Dipper shouldn't overthink this. He was always overthinking everything.

"So," Dipper whispered to Tome. Ford was up ahead of them as they walked in the forest, talking Mob's ears off about his theories. "Can I ask a weird question?"

"No question is too weird," Tome proclaimed. "If we refused to ask questions based on society's standards of what's weird, we'd never make any great discoveries!"

"...Right. Uh, I was just wondering," Dipper began, keeping his voice low, "if you and Mob are... close? Like, if you guys are a thing, maybe?"

Tome's laughter echoed loudly through the forest, and Dipper flushed with embarrassment. Didn't Tome catch that he was trying to be quiet about this?!

"No way!" Tome shook her head. "Mob's only got eyes for one girl that I know of. He thinks I can't see him sending that Tsubomi chick cute pictures of cats he finds on the street-- but I see _everything_."

Dipper was about to question further when a disembodied voice argued, "No you don't, you liar. _I'm_ the one who told you about that."

"Oh, shoo," Tome said dismissively, waving her hand in the direction of the voice. "Unimportant details, Dimple."

_ I don't think I could ever get used to knowing a ghost is watching me all the time, _ Dipper thought. _After the bad experiences I've had, and being so paranoid about Bill... I sure hope Dimple really is trustworthy._

"We're here!" Ford called back to them.

Up ahead, Ford and Mob stood a safe distance away from the bottomless pit that was responsible for the fact they were here in the first place. Ford flipped to a specific page in his notebook, then cleared his throat. "When I originally encountered the bottomless pit, I was quick to assume that there wasn't any discernible way to predict what would back and what wouldn't. And while I've had everything I thought I knew about reality turned upside-down more times than I can count on my fingers (which is saying something in my case), I'm certain that there are still laws that nature and the universe follow. One of those things I'm nearly sure of is that nature loves patterns."

"Oh!" Dipper raised his hand, eager to sound like he was following his Great Uncle's train of thought. "Like, the Fibonacci sequence?"

"Precisely!" Ford nodded approvingly. "You would be surprised to know that there are few things in this world that are truly random. There's a reason to most everything, and I'm determined to get to the _bottom_ of this one." Ford paused. "...Get it? Because this is supposedly a bottomless pit?"

Tome groaned. Mob nodded to confirm that he got the joke, expression blank. Dipper tried to laugh slightly to fill the awkwardness.

"From past experiments, I already ruled out any theories that suggested the weather or time of day may have anything to do with it. So now I wish to test a new theory: The Theory of Inconvenience. It's similar to Murphy's Law in that the universe is like a mischievous child that just wants to make my life more difficult."

Tome laughed, thinking Ford was kidding. Dipper took him seriously, thinking hard. 

"Are you saying we need to use reverse psychology with the universe?" he asked, trying to wrap his mind around it.

To answer his question, Ford held his notebook out over the edge of the abyss.

"It sure would be frustrating if I lost all these notes I've been working on," he said out loud, projecting his voice like an actor on a stage. "That would set me back for months!"

He dropped the notebook.

All four of them stayed quiet. The three kids understood that, if the notebook never returned, it would prove that the universe was out to get him. But then again, if the universe knew it was being tricked, would it send the notebook back anyway to try to prove him wrong?

Dipper was starting to get a headache thinking about it.

"Hey," Tome blurted, pointing towards the hole. "That was fast!"

"What?!" Aghast, Ford spun around to see the notebook slowly rising from the pit. "Nothing has ever returned that fast! The universe really is out to make me look like a fool!"

Mob sighed.  "Very funny, Dimple."

Sure enough, Dimple revealed himself to be holding Ford's notebook midair with a smirk. "I think you just have bad luck, nerd," the ghost said.

"That's exactly what I'm saying! I'm trying to scientifically prove it!" Ford said in exasperation. He stretched out his hand, trying to reach for the notebook. "Are you going to going to hand that back?"

"You know," Dimple said conspiratorially, holding the notebook just out of reach, "I'd like to think I'm on pretty good terms with the universe. Good karma and all that. You think if I possessed you and jumped in, you could get back home and out of our hair?"

Dipper immediately tensed. Was he... Was this spirit serious? Could he actually posses people? Just like... Just like...

Mob noticed Dipper taking a few trembling steps back. "Are you alright?"

"Mob... You said... You said you trusted Dimple, right?" Dipper asked shakily, arms crossed in front of his chest. Could any spirit _really_ be trusted? Dimple seemed too mischievous in personality. How powerful was he? Had he and Mob just been tricking him all along?! He didn't want to lose his body _again--_

"Don't even joke about that," Ford scolded Dimple, pointing a finger at the spirit as if he were a child or a pet. "Besides, I had a metal plate installed in my head to prevent that very thing." 

"Yikes, seriously?" Dimple winced. "You really are that paranoid, huh? Tinfoil hat wasn't enough or something?"

Mob approached Dipper, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about Dimple. He won't hurt anybody. Especially not when I could erase him in seconds. But that won't have to happen, because we're friends."

Dipper nodded, trying to breathe at a normal pace again.

He still didn't feel comfortable with Dimple being around.

"Stanford Pines," Tome spoke up, her arms crossed and foot tapping on the forest floor gently. "Perhaps you're looking at this all wrong."

"Oh? ...Also, why did you address me by my full name?"

Tome ignored the older man's confusion. "Do you believe in fate? That some things are just destined to be? Maybe, the universe isn't determined to _inconvenience_ you, but is rather steering you in the right direction so that what needs to be can happen."

Ford gave her a flat stare. "You're saying, that all those socks, all that spare change, and my favorite cassette tape, were lost to the bottomless pit, never to return, because _fate_ needed it to happen?"

"Yes." Tome stared right back, serious.

Dipper expected his Great Uncle to scoff, but instead the man seemed to consider it. "That's a valid possibility. And a much more optimistic one." 

Ford began to pace back and forth, his notebook forgotten about. Dimple dangled it over the hole as if about to drop it down into the abyss once more, but Mob shook his head at him. The ghost reluctantly set it down on the ground near the edge of the pit.

"Perhaps we're here for a reason. Perhaps everything has been building up to an upcoming moment. Perhaps we're being railroaded towards a specific outcome, as if by some strict Dungeon Master that doesn't want his players to go off course in his carefully crafted game of Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons," Ford thought out loud, hand to his chin as his steps grew precariously close to the pit without his notice.

Tome noticed that Dipper had backed away a bit, and moved to lean in close enough to whisper, "Is he always this strange?"

"I could ask the same about you," Dipper retorted.

"Perhaps there truly are no accidents," Ford went on, "and some things are just meant to be--"

Ford tripped over his own notebook, having not seen where Dimple had set it down. Before he could go tumbling down into the bottomless pit, Mob caught him with his physic powers, suspending the startled man in the air with his arms flailing in panic.

Dimple snickered. "No accidents, huh?"

***

There was a knock at the door.

Mabel, being self-promoted Official Door Answerer, was dutifully there in an instant. She opened the door to see Ritsu, looking as unamused as ever.

"Oh, hi, Ritsu! I wasn't expecting to see you back so soon!" Hanging out with _two_ boys in one day?! Mabel couldn't believe her luck! And here she'd been getting a sneaking suspicion that Ritsu didn't like her. Obviously, that wasn't true if he was here now!

"See, this is the one I was telling you about," Ritsu said, gesturing to Mabel. 

Mabel blinked. Who... Who was he talking to? She stuck her head out the doorway a bit, but she couldn't see anyone. "Who're you talking to? Do you have an invisible friend?"

"What?!" Ritsu blanched, whipping his head around to look to his left. "He was just here! Why, that jerk, making me come all this way..."

"Well, you're here anyway, so why not come in?" Mabel said in a sing-songy voice. She grabbed him by his sleeve, trying to tug him inside. "Do you like my new outfit? Teruki bought it for me and everything!"

Ritsu squinted his eyes, as if he were staring into the sun. "Yeah... I can tell," was all he said.

Mabel noticed that the door closed behind him on its own-- that was probably just him using his powers or something. "So, you're here to help me practice my gaming skills, right? Right?" She adopted her best 'gamer' voice, shooting finger guns at Ritsu as she said, "I've gotta up my game, bro, I can't stay a noob!"

Ritsu's gaze drifted from her to just beyond her shoulder. "Actually, I'm here because--"

"--because I wanted to meet you!" said a new voice.

Mabel spun around on her heels to find herself face to face with a cheerful redhead. His mouth was turned up in an arrogant, curious smile, and his blue eyes seemed full of mischief. Or maybe Mabel was imagining it.

"I didn't even see you come in!" Mabel gasped. "Can... Can you turn _invisible?!_ "

The kid chuckled. "Sure can. Wanna see?"

"Yeah!" As soon as Mabel agreed, the redhead shimmered out of sight.

She felt a tap on her shoulder. "Tada!" came the newcomer's voice from behind her.

Mabel laughed with delight as she turned around, only to find no one. 

"Oh, I see," she said, heart racing with excitement. Her eyes darted all over the room, and she took a few steps in one direction. "Someone thinks they can beat me at my best game-- hide and seek! Well, you're on, stranger!" She immediately dashed into the kitchen, confident in her ability to track down this new kid.

"Oh, is Shou here?" Mabel heard Teru ask as she swung open the fridge. No, she didn't think the kid was hiding in the fridge-- she had a plan.

"Yeah," Ritsu answered as Mabel successfully found a water bottle. "He didn't want to miss out. Goodness knows I wouldn't hear the end of it if he did."

Mabel screwed off the water bottle's small plastic cap, then proceeded to expertly stalk through the apartment. Sometimes she would stare at a spot suspiciously, begin to walk away... and then turn around and squeeze out a splash of water in that spot without warning. This happened several times, leaving puddles on Teru's floor, until at last, her efforts were rewarded with a splash and a yelp of surprise.

The kid, apparently named Shou, turned himself visible again, brushing some of the water off of his jacket. "Not bad! Ritsu says your name is Mabel. I'm Shou, another esper; nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too, my hide and seek rival!" Mabel agreed. She then turned and called into the living room, "Grunkle Stan! Soos! One of you start counting, and we'll see who can hide the longest, me or Shou!"

"Okay!" Soos started to put his hands over his eyes and count, but was cut off by Stan.

"Pumpkin, don't you remember that hide and seek is the reason we're here in the first place?" he said, a trace of worry in his voice. He lay back on Teru's couch with a soda in his hand, thinking. "How 'bout you, I dunno, tell him about that time you punched a unicorn instead?"

 _Oh,_ Mabel thought, feeling a pang of guilt. _He's right. What was I thinking? I wasn't thinking. I really am the reason we're..._

"No way, that can't be true!" Shou challenged, pulling Mabel back from her thoughts.

"It sure is!" Mabel countered, curling her hands into fists and getting into a dramatic fighting stance. As she launched into her story, animatedly acting it out, the admiration in Shou's eyes chased away the sick feelings that were trying to give her a stomach ache. But only for a little bit.

 _He doesn't blame me,_ Mabel tried to reassure herself in thoughts. _Grunkle Stan just... doesn't want me to get lost again._

_Again. Am I always getting people into trouble for my sake?_

_No, no, not always,_ she argued with herself. 

_But a lot. A lot, and you know it, Mabel._

As Mabel ended her story, Shou's laughter and comment to Ritsu seemed to fade into the background. 

_I hope Dipper gets back soon. I need to talk to him. And I need him to be honest with me._

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed :) If you ever find inaccuracies, or have suggestions for future chapters, please comment below. Thank you for reading!


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